Colour Blind
by Sodamnparanoid
Summary: When Olena becomes mysteriously ill, Rose and Dimitri head to Russia to find a cure, but they learn everything is not what it seems in a violent game of smoke and mirrors.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

The scenery whipped by me as I tore down the cobblestone pathway beside the canal. The water was still and black, reflecting the sky above it like a near perfect mirror and everything was awash with a soft yellow glow from the old streetlights that were lining the road beside us and a few feet above us. At three in the morning the town was almost completely deserted besides the last few stragglers leaving the bars and clubs lining the banks of the canal.  
"Keep up Grandpa." I called behind me, tucking the few loose curls that had sprung free of their prison in the tight bun on top of my head. I heard Dimitri laugh softly in response, but I could hear his feet pounding the ground and his pace stayed measured and consistent. "Almost half way!" sprinting up the staircase and onto the sidewalk. We both knew he could easily outrun me any day, but I suspected he was keeping pace on purpose. Even now, after all this time, he was still over protective of me sometimes. Especially when we were alone in the middle of the human night.

When we reached the small row of bushes we agreed was the half way point I had to bend over over and catch my breath. Dimitri wasn't far behind me. We stood by the bush for a minute surveying the landscape around us. The town was beautiful, so beautiful. I could understand why my mother was so fond of it. Everything looked like a fairytale here, like it was untouched by time, but somehow also not stuck in the dark ages. You could have told me the place was built by elves, and I would almost have believed you. Dimitri said it reminded him a lot of a town in Belgium called Bruges.  
A town this old was filled with Dhampir and Moroi alike. In fact I'm pretty sure the human to Vampire ratio here was tilted heavily towards Vampires, which was almost completely unheard of these days. Thanks to the human population though, most of us kept to a human schedule, and thus not a huge risk of anything too significant going awry. It did have a fairly notorious nightlife during festival season though, which was exactly why Dimitri and I had been called out here. Festival season was only a few weeks away, and where there were a lot of Moroi and Dhampirs, there was almost definitely Strigoi. The vicious, red eyed, soulless undead. When you combined a whole bunch of humans, Moroi, and Dhampirs with a small space, loud music, and an effectively nocturnal schedule, it's basically providing the Strigoi with an all you can eat buffet. I shuddered at the thought of it.

That wasn't the weird part though. The weird part was that just a few weeks out from festival season, and we hadn't had a single run in with the Strigoi. When we got posted here, my mother warned me that this close to the festivities they were usually already out in force and it made me more than a little nervous that there had been no activity. Anybody else might think that their numbers had started dwindling, or they had found another place to hunt, but that absolutely wasn't the case. People were disappearing through the year, it looked like they were building their numbers, but there was no proof that the Strigoi actually had anything to do with it.  
"It's weird, isn't it?" I asked after a moment.  
"Yes Rose, it's strange." The concern in his face mirroring mine.  
"Maybe we should -" He raised his hand to stop me, and I felt frustration rise in my throat.  
"Not this time. We have to remain inconspicuous." He was right. I knew he was right.  
"But I just think if we went on a hunt, maybe get in touch with some people… I mean, what if they're planning something again? What if this is just the calm before the storm and come festival season we're outnumbered and under serious attack? What if-" I hadn't realised I'd straightened up and was almost yelling until Dimitri was directly in front of me and caressing my face with his hands.  
"Roza." He cooed. "My beautiful Roza. You must not think like that. After everything we've been through together, do you think I'd let anything happen?" He planted a gentle kiss on my lips, and took a small step back without letting me go. "I understand why you are concerned, but now is not the time for this." I looked around and realised he was right. About half a block away we had drawn the attention of a young group of girls talking at the exit of one of the more exclusive nightclubs in town.  
"Besides," he dropped his voice to a near whisper, his lips brushing against the side of my neck, "You're basically killing me in those shorts, and I can't think about anything besides tearing them off of you the second we get home." In the pit of my stomach I felt a tingling warmth rise, a need to feel his skin on mine. I felt him kiss my neck, his tongue lightly brushing against me, and I couldn't help the moan that escaped my lips. Before I had a chance to respond to what he was saying and doing in much the same way, he was off again, running back the way we came. I didn't have to see his face to know he wore a satisfied smirk.  
"No fair, you can't flirt your way into beating 's a cheap trick." I called after him, knowing my cries were completely pointless. "We're going to talk about this when we get home." I shouted, taking off after him.  
"Count on it." I heard him call back. Definitely smiling. Bastard.

By the time we got back home there was only one thing I was interested in doing. Apparently, we were on the same page. I closed the front door and barely had time to turn around before he had my hands pinned above my head, kissing me with my back against the door. I could feel his body pressing into me. His hands danced at the hem of my tank top, his warm fingers sending jolts of electricity everywhere he touched. It didn't take long before he lifted my shirt over my head, and discarded it on the floor beside us, only breaking the kiss to lift it over my head. I could see it in his eyes, passion, hunger, wanting. There was so much about him that made me fall in love with him more and more every day. Times like these made me feel something else entirely. I moaned when his his free hand started stroking my thigh "I want you." I breathed, feeling his own wanting growing against me.  
With those three words out of my mouth he hoisted me up and started carrying me towards the lounge room. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled back for some air, his lips migrating towards my chest. My skin was cold from the frozen night air, and the warmth from his lips felt like he was setting me on fire in the best ways. "Roza." He moaned as I tilted my hips up and down teasing him ever so slightly.

"I guess we'll come back later then…" If he didn't have such incredible reflexes I'm almost certain Dimitri would have dropped me. Standing in the middle of our lounge room clutching a dusty brown leather bag was Sydney Ivashkov. The former Alchemist and Dimitri's cousin-in-law. Now also Adrian Ivaskhov's wife.  
Dimitri swore in Russian and gently put me on the ground.  
"What are you doing here?" I asked, careful to stand in front of Dimitri. Don't get me wrong, I love Sydney almost like a sister, but usually she at least called first.  
"I don't think these guys ever do any grocery shopping. Can we go out for food? Just leave a note, I'm sure they'll be back soo-" A voice called out, making it's way from the kitchen and down the hall past the stairs. It didn't take a genius to figure out what our flushed faces and close proximity were all about, and Adrian Ivashkov was definitely not a genius. "Maybe we should have called first." He wore a smug grin on his face, a face, which had somehow begun to look a lot younger since he stopped poisoning himself with cigarettes and liquor all the time. This entire situation had suddenly become something out of a bad movie. We were standing frozen like that for what felt like a thousand years. All of a sudden Sydney shot to action and handed me the throw blanket off of the midnight blue suede couch, and gave her husband a warning glare. I wrapped the soft blanket around myself and tried to arrange my features into something other than complete horror and confusion. He dismissed her concerns with a smirk. "Why don't we let Rose deal with that, while you find me something to eat in this godforsaken house." Adrian suggested. Dimitri didn't need to be told twice. He turned on his heel and left, more than eager to be out of this situation. On his way out of the lounge room door, Adrian spun around and shot me an apologetic glance. I smiled as disappointment and embarrassment swept over me. A nervous laugh escaped my lips as I turned to face Sydney again. We'd come a long way since I met her in Russia, but that didn't mean that I was okay with her being there for a floor show.  
"I'm gonna…" I stuck my thumb out and gestured towards the staircase. I didn't need to explain any more though, she nodded quickly, staring at her feet and I realised she felt more awkward about this than the rest of us.

I came back downstairs half an hour later wearing a set of grey yoga pants that made my ass look insane, tucked into ugg boots, and a midnight blue hoodie of Dimitri's that was insanely soft and doubly warm. "I hadn't pegged you for a hoodies and sweats guy." I declared I first saw him wear it. It was the first week of being official guardians for Lissa and Christian, and I'd had a nightmare about him still being a Strigoi. He gave me a puzzled look when I said it, before I burst into tears and threw my arms around his neck.  
"Rose, what's going on? Are you hurt." I felt him go into protective mode, which made me cry even harder. In what seemed like a single movement, he had swept me into his arms and was carrying me over to the couch. "You can tell me."  
I knew he was still feeling about what he had done to me, and I felt like it had taken him a lifetime to admit that he needed me as badly as I needed him. Honestly, I was afraid to open up to him about it. At the time I had found myself questioning every single thing I said and did when it came to hm, afraid it would set him back or push him away. He had come so far. _We_ had come so far, and every fibre of my being was desperate to keep that forward momentum going.  
"Nightmare." I finally managed. I didn't need to explain. He knew what the nightmare was, although I had wished he didn't. He had wrapped his arms around me, and I had pressed my face into his chest, taking in his smell, and his heartbeat, grounding myself back in reality. The reality that he was alive, and holding me, and whispering he loved me over and over again. One thing lead to another and I woke up that evening naked in his arms, draped across the queen sized bed in his room. I looked over to him and smiled. It wasn't quite sunset, so the Moroi day hadn't started yet. I crept out of bed shrugging his hoodie over my head and climbed downstairs to the kitchen. He sat at the dining table while I was finishing plating up his breakfast and smiled at me like I was a goddess. "You know what Roza, I could definitely get used to this." Somewhere between then and now, I had more or less claimed the hoodie as my own.

I rounded the corner into the lounge room pulling my hair into a ponytail saw Dimitri was wedged between Adrian and Sydney being bombarded with pictures of Declan. "He is beautiful." Dimitri said softly, and I could hear a longing in his voice that made me inexplicably nervous.  
"Don't let Rose hear you say that, she might bolt." Adrian joked, but I could tell he wasn't completely certain that wasn't the absolute truth. Back when he and I had dated, I had certainly considered a future with him, but it had never involved kids. It had never involved much of anything really. I always felt tied to Dimitri, and when he was restored, as painful as it is to say it, Adrian never stood a chance. I always felt so horrible for the way things went down between he and I, but it was well and truly in the past now. He had Sydney, and he looked at her with double the love and admiration that he had ever looked at me. In a way I guess Sydney was Adrian's Dimitri. Now though, through some miracle of the universe, Dimitri and I could have kids. There's something about getting brought back from being a strigoi that made two Dhampir's biologically compatible, and I knew it was a thought that had crossed his mind a few times. You could see it when he was around Declan, a part of him wanted a family.  
"Speak of the Devil." Sydney smiled, noticing me standing in the doorway. I didn't miss the pointed glare she shot Adrian's way, but I was the only one who noticed it for sure.  
We caught up for a little while, and they filled me in about everything happening at Court, Christian and Lissa were making more progress, and gaining more respect with every passing day. Their decision to send Dimitri and I here together didn't sit right with either of us at first, but my mother took my place guarding Lissa, and a guardian from nearby Dimitri's home town of Baia called Vladislav Dostoevsky took Dimitri's place guarding Christian. I felt a lot more comfortable once I knew that it was Janine Hathaway taking over my role as Lissa's guardian for the time being, and Dimitri seemed to trust Vladislav, so I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Which wasn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world for me given the last few years of my life. I still felt naked without the bond though. My hand unconsciously went to the place on my chest where the small scar from being shot sat, when I thought about losing the bond.

"So?" I asked after a while. I was glad to be hearing so much positive news, but frustrated that nobody had gotten to the point yet. "Not that I'm not thrilled you guys are here and all, but what's the big bad?" Adrian and Sydney shot each other a meaningful glance and turned to Dimitri.  
"It's Olena. She's… sick." There was something about the way Sydney said the word sick, that made me freeze.  
"Sydney." Adrian cautioned. There was something in his eyes that made even me nervous.  
"What do you mean sick?" I asked, jumping in before either Dimitri or Adrian could say anything. Concern flooding every inch of me. Olena Belikova was Dimitri's mother, and when I was in Russia tracking him down to shove a silver stake through her son's heart - a fact that she didn't know, she took me in as one of her own. They accepted mine and Dimitri's love without any hesitation, and for a while they made me feel close to him again. For a while I'd even considered staying there with them for good, and adopting them as my own family, but in the end I knew what I had to do, and I left to kill her son.  
Dimitri's eyes flicked up to meet mine for the briefest of moments, and I saw an intense blend of fear and sadness in them. We had agreed that we should keep our distance from them for a little while. Last time we went to see them Dimitri had found out about some guy taking advantage of Viktoria, and he wasn't so nice about it. He may be full of self control where most things were concerned, but apparently his family wasn't one of them, but since everyone knew about his restoration, a rumour got out that he'd retained some element of the strigoi, and it had taken a long while for people to trust his family again.  
"What are you waiting for?" Adrian pressed when he realised neither of us were about to move. Should't you be making arrangements to head to Russia?  
"This is the post we were assigned to. This is our mission. We cannot leave." Dimitri's tone was measured, and I'm almost certain neither Adrian nor Sydney could hear the regret in his voice.  
Adrian shot Sydney another look and she produced an envelope from the satchel that seemed to follow her everywhere lately. "We thought you might say that. It's for you." Sydney extended her hand to me, and I stood up and took the letter from her. Curiously I crossed the room and sat in the armchair opposite them.

 _Guardian Hathaway_

 _Your official orders are to go to Baia for a private mission by command of the Queen. You are to take Guardian Belekov with you.  
Relief for your post will arrive in three days and their transport will take you to the airport._

 _Regards,_

 _Guardian Dostoevsky._

Lissa's name and signature were also stamped on the bottom of the letter signalling that it had passed through her desk and she had approved it's content. Standard procedure for guardians of the royal court these days. I sighed with frustration. When we had been assigned here, Lissa had giggled telling me there was more than one reason for giving us this post and I knew exactly what it was the minute we walked through the door. She wanted us to have an opportunity to really be a couple, not spend the rest of our lives on one mission or another when guardian duty wasn't calling our names. I appreciated it, a lot. But honestly we were guardians. It was our job.

I handed the note to Dimitri, and I saw relief wash over him. At least now it was an order. I had a feeling our next change in post was also Lissa's doing, and I made a mental note to thank her profusely the next time we saw her. A few hours rolled by and Adrian and Sydney excused themselves. Adrian didn't live on a human schedule, so for him the rising sun meant bed time. Honestly, I was too worried about Olena to think about sleep. I knew only one thing for sure: there was something Sydney and Adrian wasn't telling us, and I had three days to find out what that was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

By the time Adrian and Sydney left me and Dimitri to our own devices, I could tell he had calmed down considerably. Before he came to America, unless he was at school a lot of his time had been devoted to his family. Besides me, I was pretty sure there was nobody he would protect the way he was always prepared to defend his family. I knew that they had wanted him to come home for years because they missed him dearly, and for a while there was talk of them wanting Dimitri and I to give up being Guardians and just move to Baia to be nearby, but they knew that Dimitri was duty bound and far too noble to be satisfied with a normal life. Eventually they had accepted the fact that we would likely die (again) or be forcibly retired before we gave up being guardians.

"So." I said, breaking the comfortable but no less heavy silence.  
"So." He repeated. Unlike before, there was no emotion to his voice. I knew he was wondering if he could have stopped it from happening - if whatever had made Olena sick could have been prevented by us staying in Baia. I had the strongest suspicion it wouldn't have made a difference. It wasn't worth sharing that unless he asked though. I kissed the top of his head and wandered into the kitchen. With all the catching up and the talk of Russia and Olena I realised neither Dimitri or I had eaten a thing, and I had already made plans for the day. Granted, today of all days wasn't the best for getting bad news, but the news could definitely have been worse and there was still plenty of good about the day. Hopefully if anything, it managed to distract Dimitri from being too upset about everything. I wasn't too optimistic though.  
I'll admit that I wasn't a world class chef, but my time living with Dimitri's family meant I had picked up a few tricks. "I'm going to rest for a little while." I hadn't heard him coming over all the noise I was making, and he scared me. I swore when I almost dropped a knife on my foot, but managed to catch it in time. I offered him a gentle smile and double checked there was nothing he needed before he went.  
"Right." I mumbled to myself, looking around the kitchen counter at all the ingredients I had pulled out. "Time to get my cook on." One of the things I had made sure that I brought home with me when I took Dimitri back to see his family after he had been restored, was the recipe for the black bread he loved so much. The first time I looked over the ingredients I had to make sure Olena didn't accidentally give me her shopping list. She chuckled and said something about the simplicity of the American palette, but I knew she was joking, not insulting me.  
Around an hour later the bread was finally in the oven. "Would you take a look at yourself, Rose Hathaway?You're basically a step ford wife now." I never in a million years would have believed somebody if they told me this is how I'd be spending my days - engaged, and cooking for my husband to be. In fact I probably would have laughed so hard that I snorted and called whoever I was saying it a string of words that wouldn't be appropriate in front of civilised people. Step ford or no though, I hadn't exactly embraced the clean as you go philosophy. I braced myself for the sight I knew I was going to be confronted with when I turned around. It didn't disappoint. My one beautiful rustic cottage style kitchen had started to resemble the aftermath of a strigoi battle field. The sight was almost enough to make me want to just throw everything out and request new stuff be delivered from the royal court.  
In the time it took the bread to finish cooking, I had managed not only to restore the kitchen to it's former glory, but I had also managed to cook up eggs, tomato and sausages, and brew a strong pot of coffee. I laid out the food on the table and headed to the front door to grab the newspaper my Dhampir senses heard thud against the door. Looking at the clock I realised it was only six am. I didn't know if Dimitri would even be capable of getting out of bed for anything short of an emergency yet. I didn't have to worry about that though. No sooner had I put the newspaper down in front of his chair beside his plate, that he appeared bleary eyed in the doorway.

"Roza." He cooed, crossing the threshold and taking in the sight of all of the food in front of him. "This looks incredible." He kissed me gently, pouring all the thanks in the world into that kiss, and for a brief moment in time I completely forgot what I was meant to be doing.  
"Sit." I commanded when the kiss ended and I had regained enough composure to form words. "It's going to get cold." I didn't need to convince him. He sat at the table and straightened out the newspaper while I loaded his plate with a little bit of everything. "Coffee or Juice?" I asked, holding both.  
"Coffee. Thank you." There was a softness to his voice that he reserved for when he was feeling exceptionally touched. "This is wonderful Roza." It felt a bit stupid watching him pick up a slice of the bread. Not because I was watching him eat like a total creep or anything. Because I wanted him to like it. I didn't want to ruin a food his mother told me as a child he loved. He bit into it and froze. For a moment, I thought he had heard something I hadn't. Instead, his eyes locked with mine again. "This tastes exactly like my mothers." There was an expression on his face I couldn't completely read. It looked bittersweet and I almost wondered if the bread was a bad idea. "Thank you Roza." the tone in his voice cleared me of any and all concern I had in that respect, and I sat down to join him at the table.  
"I'm going out for a little while today." I told him, I had hoped by the look on my face he would understand that to also say " _alone_." I waited for a response, but he didn't register any protest, so I took it to be his understanding. "Is there anything you need while I'm out?" Dimitri shook his head, barely leaving room to breathe between mouthfuls let alone words. "Love you." He looked at me pointedly, knowing the next thing I would say was likely to be a joke about him not caring enough to say it back since his mouth was too full to say anything at all. He didn't need to though. I knew. I had always known.

A short while later I had changed into white sundress with the faintest yellow lines swirling all over it, a light denim cropped jacket, and a pair of brown gladiator sandals. I contemplated briefly, also putting a sun hat on, but I was having a good hair day and I really didn't want to screw that up. "I'll be back." I called, not sure where in the house Dimitri was but knowing he could hear me anyway. "Before dinner." I added, knowing he would probably follow me out of the house to find out. I didn't want company today.  
I walked the main strip of town admiring the people as they came and went. A group of excited teenagers were lined up waiting for the shuttle bus that would take them to the waterpark a couple of miles away and every so often they erupted with a loud burst of laughter or a shout. I couldn't help myself as a small wistful grin crossed my face.  
Stepping into the second hand book shop, musty smell of candles, dust, and old books hit me like a train. Humans could smell it, but for a Dhampir it was almost an assault on our senses. "I'm Rose Belikov. I spoke to someone here about having a package delivered?" The man nodded his understanding and handed over a small package.  
"Strange request to be honest. It doesn't seem like your type of thing." He said, marking off that I'd picked up the parcel in the thick ledger in front of him. I tried to ignore his statement. Snap judgments may have been my forte, but it didn't mean I was by any means a fan of them. I waved my thanks and crammed it down the bottom of my bag.  
My feet were hurting by the time I was done doing the last bit of running around that I had to, so I decided to stop in at a small cafe by the bridge I'd be crossing shortly to get back home. I ordered myself a milkshake and a blueberry muffin and took a seat outside. Pulling my phone out of my bag I knew what I had to do next.

 _"I'm sleeping. Could it wait?"_ Adrian Ivashkov asked, not even bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.  
 _"You wake Declan up and I'm going to be royally pissed."_ I heard Sydney caution behind him. I could barely hear her voice, but it still made me smile a little.  
"No, you need to tell me whatever it is you're not telling me." I demanded, mentally scolding myself for sounding so completely insane.  
" _Okay, I'll let her know._ " I could tell he was covering his tracks, " _could you hang on a moment, Rose. I have to use the bathroom._ " I screwed my nose up at his words, but I knew it was probably the first excuse to leave the room he could come up with.  
"Gross." I mumbled when I heard his bedroom door close over the line.  
" _I can't tell you Rose. You know I can't. If we could say anything we would have by now. You should know that."  
_ "No. No Adrian. I know you know something. You would have just mailed us the letter if you didn't. It's serious, and I need to know how serious. You can't just send us into a situation blind."  
He sighed and I knew I had him. " _Fine. We think it's a trap._ " I could hear the resignation and the frustration mixing in his voice. He knew I was right, but he didn't want to risk getting anybody in trouble. " _We're sending you guys because you know them. You know the people around. You'll be able to let it keep going and figure out if we're right._ " It was honestly something I expected my mother to come up with. It bore the trademark of Janine Hathaway strikingly, but I suspected she may not have had anything to do with this one as much as she served as the inspiration.  
"Brilliant." I sighed. Still not sure I was getting the full story. A trap for who? for example. But I knew there was no force on earth strong enough to pry that response even out of Adrian.  
I didn't even bother reacting to it. I was in public and I didn't want to draw attention to myself. The waitress bought out my milkshake and my muffin, but I realised I didn't feel like them anymore.  
 _"Anything else?"_ He asked, returning to his over tired frustrated tone.  
"Yeah." I snapped. "Flush the toilet before you go to bed." I disconnected the call and dropped my phone back in my bag.  
I sat at the table staring at the canal for a while, thinking about all the possible consequences of telling Dimitri the truth about the mission. I wondered if he'd be more or less worried, or if it would change his mind about going at all. My biggest concern was that he'd see this as the Guardians taking advantage of his family to figure out who was attacking Dhampir, and turn into a force of nature. Even I couldn't stop him or calm him down then. I hated hiding things from him or lying to him though. Eventually I looked at my watch and sighed. If I wanted to make dinner I'd have to head back. I swore to myself remembering I had to backtrack and grab a bottle of wine for dinner.  
By the time I was walking through the front gate making dinner was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, but I had resolved to make today special and that's exactly what I was going to do. It was getting dark though, the day was almost over. I had definitely been out a lot longer than I wanted to, and I hadn't slept in almost forty hours.  
"Honey, I'm home!" I called stepping through the front door and slipping off my sandals. "Dimitri?"  
"Back here" He called from the kitchen. I hadn't realised before but there were no lights on in the house and the hallway was lined with dozens of candles, and there were rose petals scattered straight down the centre of the hall. Butterflies went crazy in my stomach as I walked up the length of the hall and stepped into the kitchen. "Out here" he called. I could barely make out his shadow through the glass French doors that lead out to the patio. I put my bags down beside the counter, pulling the small package I picked up from the book store earlier that day out of the bottom of my purse. I'd almost walked away before I decided to bring the bottle of wine and a couple of glasses outside with me as well.  
"Roza" He smiled as I crossed the threshold into the back yard. My breath caught in my throat. Dimitri stood there wearing a dark blue button down shirt with black slacks, a tie, and his hair was tied neatly at the base of his neck. Almost as breathtaking as him was the backyard itself, he had pushed the lounge chairs together and locked them into place to make more of a bed, and there were even more candles. Over towards the small fountain was a speaker playing soft jazz music, and there were flowers everywhere. I felt like a Princess at that moment.  
"Oh Dimitri." I sighed, tears almost springing to my eyes "I thought that -"  
"You thought that I forgot. Or that I would be too distracted." He finished for me and the tears that threatened my eyes before sprang free. "Oh Roza, I could never forget. Happy anniversary."  
"Happy anniversary." I pressed my face into his chest for a moment before stepping back. "This is for you. It's not much. But I remember you saying that it was one of your favourites because it didn't try to be anything else, and it was simply about good versus evil." I handed him the package and tentatively watched him open it.  
"It's perfect." He beamed. He held the copy of Buffalo Wagons to his chest like it held all the secrets of the universe. "You must have spent forever tracking this down. I love it." He regarded me for a moment with that combination of pride and disbelief I didn't get to see that often anymore. I didn't realise how much I had missed being able to surprise him. "I love you."  
"I love you too. You know I do." I sighed as he pulled me into another hug and gestured for me to sit down. "Let's just order dinner tonight. I really don't feel like cooking." I mumbled apologetically. I couldn't help but feel like I had let him down a little bit by not cooking for him on our anniversary.  
"It's already done. I ordered from that Italian place." He said, shooting me a knowing glance and gently stroking my cheek. "This is for you." He handed me a small box with a ribbon tied around it. I really hadn't expected anything in return. I had him, what else in the world could I possibly want? When I opened the box, I saw the antique bracelet I had been eyeing off in the Royal Court before we'd been sent here. It was this gorgeous silver bracelet that ducked and weaved through itself so intricately, with lines etched into it complimenting it's pattern. Set in the middle was a row of three diamonds. Simple, but elegant. I'd groaned about how I couldn't have nice things like that because I'd probably just get it stuck on a Strigoi and die since it was the only thing I'd be doing since formal parties were few and far between for me as anything but a guardian and Dimitri dismissed me, saying I had always deserved only the best. Once upon a time, Dimitri giving me jewellery would have frozen me to the core and bought up a time in our lives I could stand, but this was perfect. I felt myself impossibly fall deeper in love with him.

By the time dinner arrived we were a little distracted on the lounge chairs, so Dimitri sent me to go and get the order. When I got back to the patio Dimitri had taken off his shirt and all of a sudden it wasn't the food I was hungry for. I sat back down beside him and slid my jacket off my shoulders, leaning in to kiss him. His hands moved to my hips while mine moved across his torso and our kiss deepened. He was tugging my dress up over my hips and I was undoing his belt with an alarming speed. Both of us desperate to be as close as we possibly could. He slid my dress up and over my shoulders, taking my tight dhampir body in closely. I had the faintest trace of abs going for me, and the upper body strength made my boobs entirely gravity defying. He was always in awe of me, the way he looked at me was like nothing in the world could possibly be as beautiful. Before I knew it he had pulled me onto his lap and I was moaning his name.

Sleep came easily to us after we'd managed to tear ourselves away from each other. I woke up the next morning to the sound of him showering and I easily slipped in behind him. "Good morning." He smiled, playfully running his hand over my body. I stood on my toes and kissed him deeply in response. Eventually we managed to drag ourselves out of the shower and into the lounge to figure out our next moves. Adrian had spoken to Dimitri the day before to let him know he'd be coming over around lunch time to tell us what the hell was going on. It occurred to me that they would probably be sticking around in town with a guardian or two of their own (and I don't doubt a nanny) until our replacements arrived. Sure enough there was a knock on the door at twelve sharp. He didn't bother waiting for anyone to answer. He didn't seem a lot like himself in that moment and I imagined it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he knew Dimitri's temper almost as well as I did, and he had probably had the same thoughts about his reaction as I had.

" _Bait?"_ He repeated a short while later. There was no emotion in his voice or in his face and to be honest that was terrifying. Adrian and I nodded solemnly. I was afraid that he was going to shoot the messenger or go ballistic in general. I wouldn't have blamed him. Instead, an almost unhinged grin spread across his face and he chuckled. "Alright, well I guess we're going fishing." I didn't even know how to process his reaction. It was so calm. He almost seemed amused by the situation, and I had to wonder if this may have been some kind of technique he'd seen before. At least I hoped it was, because the alternative was that he had completely lost his mind… And I really didn't like that idea.

 **NOTE:  
** Let me know how you found my story, and let me know what you think so far. The next couple of chapters are where things start to pick up. It's about to get interesting.


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